Brownstone apartments: NYC’s real estate landscape has been dotted with them since the 1870s. NYC brownstones are detail-laden architectural gems built in various styles, such as Renaissance Revival, Italianate, or Greek Revival. Brownstones usually have a center exterior staircase that leads up to the front door and continues to wind its way up through the center of the brownstone and all the way to the top floor. While they’re undeniably beautiful, they do tend to have certain quirks depending on which floor you live on. While there are exceptions to the rules, brownstones tend to basically have the same layouts — if you’ve lived in one, you’ve pretty much lived in them all. Let’s take a look.

To enter a parlor floor apartment, you walk up the brownstone’s exterior steps and enter through giant pocket doors to the left or right side of the hallway, or through a doorway at the back of the parlor floor hallway.

Awesome:

They tend to have ridiculously high ceilings that can make even the tiniest spaces seem massive.

They’re usually chock-full of details like molding and wainscoting that make them feel grander than the other floors.

They often have giant windows that flood the rooms with sunlight.

Less Awesome:

There’s scant storage, and closets are rare.

The other floors have the extra room above the entryway; the parlor floor is missing this room because of the center staircase.

You hear everything, as neighbors walk back and forth by your door all day and night.